Identification of priority geosites for public use management: application to the geological heritage inventory of São Paulo state

Abstract

The characterization of the elements of geodiversity, through different inventory and quantitative evaluation methods, in the past decades, has allowed the identification of the most representative sites of the regional geological evolution of the state of São Paulo. Between 2013 and 2016, the first phase of the inventory of the geological heritage of São Paulo state was carried out. At the end of this stage, 142 geosites integrated into 11 geological categories were defined, which were characterized and quantitatively evaluated according to their scientific value and degradation risk, to establish future management priorities. Between 2017 and 2019, in the second phase of the research, the data obtained in the inventory were submitted to an analysis aiming at the diagnosis of use and protection and the proposal of strategies for management and public use of these geosites. Currently, the inventory of the geological heritage of the state is composed of 143 geosites, of which, based on their scientific value, 57 were evaluated as potential candidates to be integrated into the inventory of the national geological heritage. Despite this, there are still few works that systematically apply the stages of conservation and monitoring of geological sites. In this context, this study presented the initial phase of the definition of a methodology for the assessment of the evolution of the state of conservation of the geological heritage and its application in the state of São Paulo, to subsidize future actions of management and preservation of this heritage. In this stage, 129 state geosites were evaluated based on three defined criteria. This evaluation preliminarily resulted in the identification of 10 priority geosites, which will